Xavier Mendik's Books

Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress

The Golden Age of Italian Cult Cinema 1970-1985

By: Xavier Mendik

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Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress

The Golden Age of Italian Cult Cinema 1970-1985

By: Xavier Mendik

In recent years, there has been an explosion of critical interest in the icons, genres and traditions of 1970s Italian cult film. Thanks to the international success of directors such as Dario Argento and Sergio Martino, and the influential giallo (thriller) cycle in which they worked, these unconventional and often controversial films are now impacting on new generations of filmmakers, scholars and moviegoers alike. Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress: The Golden Age of Italian Cult Cinema 1970–1985 considers the current interest in specific Italian directors and cult genres, exploring the social, political and cultural factors that spawned a decade of cinema dominated by extreme, yet stylish, images of sexuality and violence. Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress situates the explosion of 1970s Italian cult ‘excess’ against the toxic backdrop of political violence and terrorist activity that produced shocking images of carnage and crime during this period. The volume also considers why the iconography of the sexually liberated female became recast as a symbol of fear and violation in a range of Italian cult film narratives. In addition, the book also analyses how longstanding regional distinctions between Italy’s urban North and the much maligned rural South fed into sex and death cycles produced between 1970 and 1985. Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress profiles leading 1970s Italian directors and performers including Aristide Massaccesi (Joe D’Amato), Laura Gemser, and Dario Argento (who also provides an interview discussing his work and 1970s Italian society). The volume also provides case-studies of the giallo cycle, rape and revenge dramas, the Italian rogue cop series, post-apocalypse films, barbarian movies, and sex comedy formats. By considering the icons and genres from the golden age of Italian cult film alongside the crucial social and sexual tensions that influenced their creation, this book will be of interest to film scholars and cult movie fans alike.

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305

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Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1443882887

ISBN 13

9781443882880

Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress

The Golden Age of Italian Cult Cinema 1970-1985

By: Xavier Mendik

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Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress

The Golden Age of Italian Cult Cinema 1970-1985

By: Xavier Mendik

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305

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Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1443882887

ISBN 13

9781443882880

100 Cult Films

By: Ernest Mathijs,Xavier Mendik

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100 Cult Films

By: Ernest Mathijs,Xavier Mendik

Some films should never have been made. They are too unsettling, too dangerous, too challenging, too outrageous and even too badly made to be let loose on unsuspecting audiences. Yet these films, from the shocking Cannibal Holocaust to the apocalyptic Donnie Darko, from the destructive Tetsuo to the awfully bad The Room, from the hilarious This Is Spinal Tap to the campy Showgirls, from the asylum of Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari to the circus of Freaks, from the gangs of The Warriors to the gangsters of In Bruges and from the flamboyant Rocky Horror Picture Show to the ultimate cool of The Big Lebowski, have all garnered passionate fan followings. Cult cinema has made tragic misfits, monsters and cyborgs, such as Edward Scissorhands or Blade Runner's replicants, heroes of our times. 100 Cult Films explains why these figures continue to inspire fans around the globe. Cult film experts Ernest Mathijs and Xavier Mendik round up the most cultish of giallo, blaxploitation, anime, sexploitation, zombie, vampire and werewolf films, exploring both the cults that live hidden inside the underground (Nekromantik, Café Flesh) and the cult side of the mainstream (Dirty Dancing, The Lord of the Rings, and even The Sound of Music). 100 Cult Films is a true trip around the world, providing a lively and illuminating guide to films from more than a dozen countries, across nine decades, representing a wide range of genres and key cult directors such as David Cronenberg, Terry Gilliam and David Lynch. Drawing on exclusive interviews with some of the world's most iconic cult creators and performers, including Dario Argento, Pupi Avati, Alex Cox, Ruggero Deodato, Jesús Franco, Lloyd Kaufman, Harry Kümel, H. G. Lewis, Christina Lindberg, Takashi Miike, Franco Nero, George A. Romero and Brian Yuzna, and featuring a foreword by cult director Joe Dante, 100 Cult Films is your ultimate ticket to the midnight movie show.

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659

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1838714006

ISBN 13

9781838714000

The Cult Film Reader

By: Mathijs, Ernest,Mendik, Xavier

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The Cult Film Reader

By: Mathijs, Ernest,Mendik, Xavier

An invaluable collection for anyone researching or teaching cult cinema ... The Cult Film Reader is an authoritative text that should be of value to any student or researcher interested in challenging and transgressive cinema that pushes the boundaries of conventional cinema and film studies." Science Fiction Film and Television "A really impressive and comprehensive collection of the key writings in the field. The editors have done a terrific job in drawing together the various traditions and providing a clear sense of this rich and rewarding scholarly terrain. This collection is as wild and diverse as the films that it covers. Fascinating." Mark Jancovich, Professor of Film and Television Studies, University of East Anglia, UK "It's about time the lunatic fans and loyal theorists of cult movies were treated to a book they can call their own. The effort and knowledge contained in The Cult Film Reader will satisfy even the most ravenous zombie's desire for detail and insight. This book will gnaw, scratch and infect you just like the cult films themselves." Brett Sullivan, Director of Ginger Snaps Unleashed and The Chair "The Cult Film Reader is a great film text book and a fun read." John Landis, Director of The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London and Michael Jackson's Thriller "Excellent overview of the subject, and a comprehensive collection of significant scholarship in the field of cult film. Very impressive and long overdue." Steven Rawle, York St John University, UK Whether defined by horror, kung-fu, sci-fi, sexploitation, kitsch musical or ‘weird world cinema’, cult movies and their global followings are emerging as a distinct subject of film and media theory, dedicated to dissecting the world’s unruliest images. This book is the world’s first reader on cult film. It brings together key works in the field on the structure, form, status, and reception of cult cinema traditions. Including work from key established scholars in the field such as Umberto Eco, Janet Staiger, Jeffrey Sconce, Henry Jenkins, and Barry Keith Grant, as well as new perspectives on the gradually developing canon of cult cinema, the book not only presents an overview of ways in which cult cinema can be approached, it also re-assesses the methods used to study the cult text and its audiences. With editors’ introductions to the volume and to each section, the book is divided into four clear thematic areas of study – The Conceptions of Cult; Cult Case Studies; National and International Cults; and Cult Consumption – to provide an accessible overview of the topic. It also contains an extensive bibliography for further related readings. Written in a lively and accessible style, The Cult Film Reader dissects some of biggest trends, icons, auteurs and periods of global cult film production. Films discussed include Casablanca, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Eraserhead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Showgirls and Ginger Snaps. Essays by: Jinsoo An; Jane Arthurs; Bruce Austin; Martin Barker; Walter Benjamin; Harry Benshoff; Pierre Bourdieu; Noel Carroll; Steve Chibnall; Umberto Eco; Nezih Erdogan; Welch Everman; John Fiske; Barry Keith Grant ; Joan Hawkins; Gary Hentzi; Matt Hills; Ramaswami Harindranath; J.Hoberman; Leon Hunt; I.Q. Hunter; Mark Jancovich; Henry Jenkins; Anne Jerslev; Siegfried Kracauer; Gina Marchetti; Tom Mes; Gary Needham; Sheila J. Nayar; Annalee Newitz; Lawrence O’Toole; Harry Allan Potamkin; Jonathan Rosenbaum; Andrew Ross; David Sanjek; Eric Schaefer; Steven Jay Schneider; Jeffrey Sconce; Janet Staiger; J.P. Telotte; Parker Tyler; Jean Vigo; Harmony Wu

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577

Publisher

McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published Date

ISBN 10

0335219233

ISBN 13

9780335219230

Body Gothic

Corporeal Transgression in Contemporary Literature and Horror Film

By: Xavier Aldana Reyes

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Body Gothic

Corporeal Transgression in Contemporary Literature and Horror Film

By: Xavier Aldana Reyes

The gothic, particularly in its contemporary incarnations, is often constructed around largely disembodied concepts such as spectrality or the haunted. Body Gothic offers a counter-narrative that reinstates the importance of viscerality to the gothic mode. It argues that contemporary discourses surrounding our bodies are crucial to our understanding of the social messages in fictional mutilation and of the pleasures we may derive from it. This book considers a number of literary and cinematic movements that have, over the past three decades, purposely turned the body into a meaningful gothic topos. Each chapter in Body Gothic is dedicated to a different corporeal subgenre: splatterpunk, body horror, the new avant-pulp, the slaughterhouse novel, torture porn and surgical horror are all covered in its pages. Close readings of key texts by Clive Barker, Richard Laymon, Joseph D'Lacey, Matthew Stokoe, Tony White or Stanley Manly are provided alongside in-depth analyses of landmark films such as Re-Animator (1985), The Fly (1986), Saw (2004), Hostel (2005), The Human Centipede (2011) and American Mary (2012).

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Page Count

264

Publisher

University of Wales Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1783160942

ISBN 13

9781783160945

100 Cult Films

By: Ernest Mathijs,Xavier Mendik

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100 Cult Films

By: Ernest Mathijs,Xavier Mendik

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

659

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1838714006

ISBN 13

9781838714000

Book's by Xavier Mendik

Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress

Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress

Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress

Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress

100 Cult Films

100 Cult Films

The Cult Film Reader

The Cult Film Reader

Body Gothic

Body Gothic

100 Cult Films

100 Cult Films

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